A Feb. 14 article at the Independent on reactions to antisemitic tweets by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar devoted several paragraphs to the fringe Jewish group IfNotNow’s defence of Omar, whilst omitting any reference to the near universal criticism by large mainstream US Jewish groups.
We tweeted the Indy journalist, Sarah Harvard, to complain that this omission significantly misleads readers by both obfuscating widespread Jewish criticism and falsely suggesting that IfNotNow represents a large section of American Jewish opinion.
Hi @amyharvard_ Why does your @Independent article about Omar's tweets ignore criticism by large mainstream groups like ADL and AJC, whilst devoting 2 paragraphs + a full press release in defense of Omar by the tiny group @IfNotNowOrg ?
That's extremely misleading pic.twitter.com/LqozrcK1dC
— CAMERA UK (formerly UK Media Watch and BBC Watch) (@CAMERAorgUK) February 14, 2019
We also filed a complaint with Indy editors who, after a series of follow-up emails, finally agreed to amend the article, adding the following paragraph on the reaction by ADL:
The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish group, said that: “As Americans and Jews, we expect our politicians to condemn bigotry, not to fuel it. Words matter. At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise in the U.S. and abroad, Rep. Omar is promoting the ugly, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews have an outsized influence over politics.”
